A Multi–State Factor–Analytic and PsychometricMeta–Analysis of Agricultural Mechanics LaboratoryManagement Competencies

摘要

For more than 20 years, the 50 agricultural mechanics laboratory management competencies identifiedby Johnson and Schumacher in 1989 have served as the basis for numerous needs assessments ofsecondary agriculture teachers. This study reevaluated Johnson and Schumacher’s instrument, asmodified by Saucier, Schumacher, Funkenbusch, Terry, and Johnson (2008), to reduce the number ofcompetencies and update the constructs of agricultural mechanics laboratory management competenciesthrough factor–analytic and psychometric analyses. Five–hundred and three in–service secondaryagriculture teachers from six states, surveyed between the spring of 2008 and the spring of 2010, servedas the population for this study. As a result, the 70 agricultural mechanics laboratory managementcompetencies included in the instrument modified by Saucier et al. (2008) were reduced to 33competencies, in eight constructs. A further outcome was reflected in the psychometric evaluation of theeight constructs, which resulted in acceptable internal consistency reliabilities that ranged from .82 to.96. Multi–state benchmarks for agricultural mechanics laboratory management abilities of secondaryagriculture teachers were also proposed. The results further indicated that the revised constructs wereappropriate to assess agricultural mechanics laboratory management competencies across Huberman’s(1989) five teacher career stages.